Italy, Rome - Roman Forum - Temple of Vespasian and Titus

The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name, Forum Romanum, is a rectangular forum or plaza surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this spot, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Manum, or simply, the Forum. For centuries, the Forum was the center of day-to-day life in Rome. The site of triumphal processions and elections, the venue for public speeches, criminal trials, and gladiatorial matches, and the nucleus of commercial affairs. Here, statues and monuments commemorated the city's great men, the teeming heart of ancient Rome. It has been called the most celebrated meeting place in the world, and in all history. It is located in the small valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills. Many of the oldest and most important structures of the ancient city were located on or near the Forum. The Roman Kingdom's earliest shrines and temples were located at the southeastern edge. These included the ancient former royal residence, the Regia in 8th century BC, and the Temple of Vesta, 7th century BC, as well as the surrounding complex of the Vestal Virgins, all of which were rebuilt after the rise of Imperial Rome. Unlike the later Imperial Fora in Rome, which were all self-consciously modeled on the ancient Greek Plataea Public Plaza, or Town Square, the Roman Forum developed gradually, organically, and piecemeal over many centuries. This is the case despite attempts, with some success, to impose some order there by Sulla, Julius Caesar, Augustus, and others. By the Imperial period, the large public building that crowded around the central square had reduced the open area to a rectangle of about 130 by 50 meters. Its long dimension was oriented northwest to southeast, and extended from the boot of the Capitoline Hill to that of the Velian Hill. The Forum's basilicas during the Imperial period, the Basilica Emilia on the north, and the Basilica Iulia on the south, defined its long sides and its final form. The Forum proper included this square, the buildings facing it, and sometimes an additional area, the Forum Adjectum, extending southeast as far as the Arch of Titus. Originally, the site of the Forum had been a marshy lake where waters from the surrounding hills drained. This was drained by the Tarkins with the Cloaca Maxima, or Unneeded Citation. Because of its location, sediments from both the flooding Tiber and the erosion from the surrounding hills have been raising the level of the Forum floor for centuries. Excavated sequences of remains of paving show that sediment eroded from the surrounding hills was already raising the level in early Republican times. The Temple of Vespasian, Antetus Tempio Vespasiano, is located in Rome at the western end of the Roman Forum, between the Temple of Concordia and the Temple of Saturn. It is dedicated to the deified Vespasian and his son, the deified Titus. It was begun by Titus in 79 AD after Vespasian's death and Titus' succession. Titus' brother, Domitian, completed and dedicated the temple to Titus and Vespasian in approximately 87. The Temple of Vespasian was in the Corinthian order, hexastyle and prostyle, that is, with freestanding columns that are widely spaced apart in a row. It was particularly narrow due to the limited space, measuring 33 meters long and 22 meters wide. In a constricted space between the temple and the concord, a small two-story vaulted room, made of brick and concrete and lined with marble, was built against the wall of the tabularium and apparently was dedicated to Titus.